Full story
Jeanie contests sale
Jeanie Buss, the governor of the Los Angeles Lakers, is legally challenging her siblings’ attempt to sell the family’s remaining 17.8% ownership stake to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner, after the Buss family said it had decided to sell the shares as part of an ongoing transaction.
“We have decided as a family to sell the remaining Buss Family Trust shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the ongoing transaction.”
In a statement to ESPN, the Buss family said, “We have decided as a family to sell the remaining Buss Family Trust shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the ongoing transaction.”
Jeanie Buss, through her lawyer Adam Streisand, sought to halt the potential sale, arguing that any decision to sell the Lakers stake could not be “effectuated without approval of the current co-trustees, Jeanie, Janie, and Joey Buss.”
Sportcal reported that NBA guidelines require controlling owners or governors to own at least 15% of the team, and that Jeanie Buss has been the Lakers’ governor since her father’s death in 2013.
The dispute follows a separate transaction in which Mark Walter agreed to sell the Lakers to Iger and Kushner at a valuation of $12.5 billion, a deal that still requires approval from the NBA Board of Governors.
Letters and competing claims
CNN reported that Streisand’s letter demanded that Jeanie Buss’ status as controlling owner be clarified publicly and that her siblings take no action on the reported vote to sell the 17.8% stake to Iger and Kushner.
CNN quoted Streisand as saying, “On behalf of Jeanie Buss, I demand that your clients make clear publicly that Jeanie Buss is the Controlling Owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and that your clients shall take no action on this supposed ‘vote’ to sell the 17.8% stake,”.
CNN also said Streisand told the outlet that “ESPN falsely reported” the sale and that the dispute reflects a “years-long pattern” involving Joey and Jesse Buss leaking information.
CNBC, meanwhile, reported that Streisand argued in his letter that Jeanie Buss remains the controlling shareholder “pursuant to a 2017 court order,” and that “any vote suggesting the Buss family is selling “would be and is void.”
The competing accounts set up a legal fight over whether the family’s remaining stake can be sold without Jeanie Buss’ consent, even as the majority sale to Iger and Kushner awaits NBA Board of Governors approval.
What’s at stake next
If the contested sale of the Buss family’s remaining 17.8% stake proceeds, Jeanie Buss would lose the qualifying 15% ownership required to remain governor, according to the reporting that NBA guidelines require controlling owners or governors to own at least 15% of a franchise.
“Pursuant to the JAB Trust and the attached Court Order”
Al Jazeera reported that Jeanie Buss is challenging her siblings’ attempt to sell the stake and quoted Streisand arguing that “Pursuant to the JAB Trust and the attached Court Order,” the co-trustees are bound to vote to maintain the minimum 15% ownership requirement.
Al Jazeera also reported that the NBA Board of Governors does not meet until September 15-16 in New York, leaving the timing of any approval for the majority sale to Iger and Kushner tied to that schedule.
Sportcal added that the deal still requires approval from the NBA Board of Governors, and that if the sale goes through, Iger and Kushner will own approximately 83% of the Lakers.
With Jeanie Buss opposing the sale of the remaining stake while the majority transaction awaits league approval, the next step in the sources is a court fight over the 2017 court order and the JAB Trust’s voting requirements.
